When I contacted Rick to ask him about the contest, he forgot that he had even signed on as a judge (it happens when you’ve got as much going on as Rick). Same thing happened to me when I agreed to judge the travel photo contest for USA Today with Nat Geo director of photography David Griffin.

Once David and I got wind of the rules, we pressured USA Today to change them. Because we were 2/3rds of the judges, we succeeded.

But Rick was 1/6th of a panel that otherwise consisted entirely of Frommer’s employees (in this job market, nobody’s gonna rock the boat on a fulltime day job in the editorial world by pressuring their corporate legal department to change unfair entry rules). So, being the only truly independent judge on the panel, Rick did the right thing, and walked.

Rick probably also walked from a nice honorarium for the day’s work. (Unless, of course, he’s a complete sucker liked me and agreed to judge the contest for a box lunch, mileage, and tolls because “budgets are tight these days.”)

But I think he’s too smart for that, and I’m happy to see that he’s also too conscientious to participate in a contest that so blatantly rips off both professional and amateur photographers!

I was going to enter too, then I read the rules and saw that they took all rights to the images entered. I’m wary of all contests like this with big prizes as I’ve found others with similar rules. Get a whole bunch of “free” photography with unlimited usage for the cost of a couple prizes. I decided not to enter too. I think for an amateur that doesn’t plan on selling their images it could be okay but not for a pro.

Contact

All text and images appearing on this web site are property of Bob Krist and are protected by United States and international copyright laws.No images may be used in any form without written permission of Bob Krist and payment of required usage fees.